The "Market" part is easy to comprehend as a meeting of buyers and sellers at a mutually convenient time and place to exchange resources, as in money for food. However, the "Farmers" part is a little less clear. Strictly speaking, the farmer is the one who grows edible produce in large enough quantities to make it worthwhile for them to transport it to and sell it at the market.
The fuel for the market is the money that people are willing to spend for items they want. The levels of supply and the demand evolve together and may eventually stabilize into a long term part of the local economy as long as everybody's expectations and needs are met. The diversification of human activities is enabled (at least partly) by specialization of an agricultural class who supplies the other professions that drive human "progress". But I digress ...
There is a another essential factor involved that will determine the success or failure of the market. There seems to always be an individual or more likely a small group that defines "success". These administrators publish the rules, contact the farmers, make arrangements with the civil authorities and market the event to the community. That is not an easy job, so something must motivate them highly. They may be suburbanite moms wanting higher quality, local produce for their children. They may be a politician wanting to revitalize a neighborhood (and get famous in the process). Or they may even be a farmer (or relative) needing a good place to sell more (and grow more) of their produce. Whatever the administrators' motivation is, they have to persuade all parties to stick with it long enough for the market to reach critical mass.
Back to the definition of "Farmer". Do not confuse this with "Vendor". Farmers who grow the produce (sometimes organically) have a very high commitment of property, time and labor and cannot compete with someone who buys truckloads of produce from a bulk wholesaler and simply resells them at the same place as the small grower, and usually for a much lower price. There's nothing wrong or unethical about reselling produce. The grocery stores do that, just on a larger scale. Some vendors justifiably take great pride in their abundant displays as exemplified in these two photos:
The problem lies in poorly defined or changing rules that attract them both. Also, if the market administrators define success as "growth" and "popularity" they will do whatever it takes to achieve that. Allowing too many non-farm crafts people and special interest groups into the market further squeezes out the farmer-growers who end up taking a larger proportion of their produce home. They will not be encouraged to grow more vegetables or plant more trees next year. That in a nutshell is what happened to us and the meaning of the title of this post. Within driving distance of our property, there are no mature Farmers Markets, and we are not the kind of managers with the motivation to make one happen.
The good news is that there are better ways of obtaining good food:
- Growers Markets: where all or most of the items for sale are fresh, locally grown produce or products made from it. These require the vendors to be the actual growers who set up in a city or town.
- Farm Stands: ranging from an open structure set up on the side of a well traveled country road selling seasonal produce to a large air conditioned building with a mix of bulk, local, regional and preserved products. You have to travel out of the city to find these.
- Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): where the consumers pay for their "share" of the food up front so the farmer can better plan the growing. Sometimes these organizations require their members to help with some of the labor of harvesting, sorting and packaging. The weekly packages are distributed at specific places and times which also saves cost and means fresher food.
- U-Pick: where the consumer goes out to the farm and harvests their own produce. Usually this is with fruit, but the grower may have other locally grown food to sell when you get there.
- Grow Your Own: where the grower is the consumer and small amounts of food (and much greater variety) are grown and harvested as needed. This is the shortest possible supply chain with the highest quality food and many other benefits. Those benefits will be the subject of a future post. Also, when you get good at growing something, its easy to grow some extra for gifts or bartering or even selling at a local market.
We are continuing to grow and use more of our own food and do keep in touch with some of the grower-friends we met during those market years. I'm working full-time as a computer programmer while developing the hardy kiwi plant nursery in my spare time. Patty is doing research on nutrition, gardening and cooking while developing her writing skills and looking after a million things that keep our home running smoothly. Good things ARE happening.
By the way, in case you haven't run across it yet, here is a good link to help you find local growers and markets: Local Harvest
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